KAMPALA (Reuters) - Two more Ugandans have died of a new
strain of the deadly Ebola virus in an outbreak near the border
with Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing the death-toll to
18, health officials said on Saturday.

"We have had two more deaths in the last 24 hours, and the
disease continues to spread," Sam Zaramba, the Ugandan Health
Ministry's director of health services, told Reuters.

Zaramba said World Health Organization (WHO) officials had
teamed up with local experts to draw up a strategy to contain
the outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in the western Bundibugyo
region. More than 50 people are also infected.

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"We have set up isolation wards where all those who have
been diagnosed with Ebola have been quarantined, and are being
monitored closely," Zaramba added.

Genetic analysis of samples taken from some of the victims
shows it is a previously unknown type of Ebola, making it the
fifth strain, U.S. and Ugandan health officials say.

Ebola can cause internal and external bleeding. Victims
often die of shock, but symptoms can be vague, including fever,
muscle pain and nausea. It is known to infect humans,
chimpanzees and gorillas.

Uganda was last hit by an epidemic of Ebola in 2000, when

425 people caught it and just over half of them died.

An outbreak in neighboring Congo this year infected up to
264 people, killing 187, the World Health Organization says.

Ugandan health officials originally suspected Marburg, a
close Ebola cousin that infected three people in a different
part of western Uganda the month before, killing one.